dead turkeys in the North East

[turkaholic]

Here in New England we have about 3 to 5 feet of fluffy snow on the ground. The wildlife is really taking a beating. Turkey are having a hard time getting off the ground because they can't spring up due to the light snow. They try to run but get tired because they sink up to their breasts. The coyotes are killing the deer like crazy.I watched a huge Bobcat walking the edge of the field this morning. She was on top of the snow. Found the evidence of a kill, blood everywhere and a picked clean, but the only way to get around to see whats going on is with snow shoes. I tried to clear an area with my tractor so they could move around a bit. The snow is so bad I almost got my 85 hp 4 wheel drive tractor stuck. I fear the worst here in New England, spring is coming, I should start hearing gobbles,according to my records in about 3 weeks. Then I will know the status of the local flocks.

[hotrod3h]

Thanks for the good news! My first trip to the New England area for turkey hunting and I read this. Not good. Plans for Maine, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire. I hope your wrong and the birds find ways to get by.

[zelmo1]

  Don't give up yet, these birds are tough. The terrible winter will take a toll, but there are some birds around. I have put out 600+ pounds of feed for the turkeys and deer in 6 spots. They gobble it up. We are making as many sno mobile trails as we can so they can get around and killing as many coyotes as we can. Keep up the fight for our birds up here in the Northeast.

[turkaholic]

in past bad winter years I found the birds did pretty well.  so much powder makes it hard. I don"t have a snowmobile, Yet

[turkaholic]

Thanks for the good news! My first trip to the New England area for turkey hunting and I read this. Not good. Plans for Maine, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire. I hope your wrong and the birds find ways to get by.

sounds good to me, thats a lot to do in 4 weeks. Good luck, I have hunted for turkeys in the northeast for 30 years and the woods have been very kind to me. My brother lives in Maine and claims they are loaded with turkeys and they have snow like this most winters.

[kevin2]

I had my snowshoes in tow this weekend. Was very deep, but it was firm too. Everything is shut down. Very little movement from the cold and snow in Michigan.

[RutnNStrutn]

Guess these deep south birds down here in Dixie don't know how good they have it! The worst our birds in FLA have to do is rock out the afternoon thunderstorms, and the occasional hurricane. I was on duty one night during a hurricane when we got a structure fire. When the fire came in, there were sustained winds around 50 MPH, with higher gusts. After eventually putting out the fire, I noticed a small flock of turkeys on the edge of the woods, hunkered down, facing into the wind, in a very tight group. It was neat to watch them ride out the storm.

[TauntoHawk]

The winter certainly can be brutal, that one of the main causes that roughly 50% of turkeys don't make it out of the first year of life. (pretty sure thats the statistic I've read)

they also can be resourceful like you wouldn't believe. Farmer on a place I hunt has been telling me that with the deep snow the birds are pitch off a near by mountain and fly all the way (800yds) to his cattle yard where they pick at lose grain all day on the packed snow and fly back. Every day never even try and walk back to the tree in the deep snow just fly down and fly back. They seem to find ways to live

[mgm1955]

Hope things turn out ok for this spring.

[tomstopper]

I know a couple dairy farmers here in NY that tell me daily like clock work, they have flocks of turkey's fly into the cow pasture and spend all day picking grains out of the cow patties in the field. They also have raided bird feeders in people's yards. They are very resourceful critters......

[K9Doc]

Damn snow.
If they can survive in Canada tho, they must
Be very hardy.

[Marc]

Snow is better than the drought...

In my life, or my father's life there has not been such a severe drought in California...  Ponds that have been around for longer than 50 years are now dry.  Two seasons in a row without rain or snow, and the wildlife is certainly suffering for that...

I quail hunt a bit, and generally shoot a fair number of valley quail each season...  Have not shot a bird in two seasons (although partly cause the covies I have run in to are so small, I do not want to hurt the population any more than it is).

If it rained every single day of the turkey season, I would be thrilled...

When that snow melts, there will be a good food supply, and the breeding birds will likely have very good habitat to reproduce...  Without water, we will lose far more birds to that lack of water and habitat than we will to hunting this season...

[MEbeardlover]

I live in Maine and we have a lot of snow on the ground and Feb. temps were brutal. However, despite the rugged conditions, I have seen birds this winter.

This winter in Maine, December and January had little snow, so things were easier in those months. But any turkey or deer hunter in the northeast will tell you that March is the key month. By this time, the deer and birds are reaching limits. If we get a "normal" March weather-wise, things usually work out. A mild month is obviously better. The real killer is a tough month of snow and cold when the deer and birds are most vulnerable.

Tough winters and loss of wildlife are a fact of life here. We had real tough back to back winters in 07-08 and 08-09; lost a lot of deer and turkeys. But they always rebound. They wouldn't live here if they couldn't.

[zelmo1]

I live in southern Maine and the conditions have been brutal on the turkeys. We have seen dead birds when we go to put out feed. The biologists are not optimistic about the high numbers we have had in past years. But, I have also seen a few birds around. Maybe they will tough it out. I am hopeful. If March isn't too bad, they may be ok. Good Luck and God Bless.

[turkaholic]

Just an update to maybe brighten things up. Putting the horses out this morning and herd some hens yelping. After an hour or so they appeared near my plowed out barn yard, but I spooked them and they flushed and flew into the woods. It seems to me that they walked up the plowed road. I will get some snow shoes tomorrow to check out how they are getting around. I can't help but to want and dig out a spot for them and put some feed out. They have made it this far with out humans so I'm not sure what to do.